Hardly There
by Dreamwalker44
Summary: A nightly stroll revealing memories of a chase, a pursuit in the city, and a fight that would later become a battle neither side could win. Gaz finds herself lost in thought as she thinks about that annoying green alien who refused to leave her be.


**_Hardly There_**

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Night always gave me a good feeling. It was dark, quiet and... well, that was probably it. I didn't feel anything besides feeling at ease when it was night. And for this reason, strangely enough, I decided to go to the graveyard.

Yeah, the old bone cemetery.

Anyway, I made may way past the gates and mausoleums to sit on a broken tomb I found on a curb.

I looked around me.

There was no one. I was completely alone.

(save for the few cats that hunted rats and mice, and the owls perched up on dead trees, I guess...)

Great.

Just how I like it.

I checked my watch to see that it was only 6 pm, quite too early actually. My brother usually calls me no later than eight to see if I'm alright or something so I had plenty of time.

Besides, Dib often left me alone so long as I don't get myself in trouble, but seriously, when have I _not_ asked for a little action here and there?

After I got tired just sitting there on the cemented box, I got up to trek the hill where more bodies of people long gone were put to their final resting place. The setting before me reminded me of my Game Slave and I quickly placed my hand where my pocket should be to feel for the thing inside. I've developed this reflex for some time now. Not after that incident did I start to check constantly that it was still there, that it was safe.

It was Zim's fault I became this paranoid.

And I sure do want to punch him for it.

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 _"That thing_..."

 _I looked up and saw the green alien my brother often fought with talking to me. I usually ignored the being, not really interested in his insane outbursts or weird experiments because they weren't much of a threat to begin with. Everything he did was more like a joke, really._

 _I raised my eyebrow at what he said, waiting for him to continue but noticed he was just looking at the thing on my hands_ , _my Game Slave._

 _"What is it?" He asks._

 _I didn't answer for a while, choosing to look at his strange expression instead._

 _He looked curious (even with the horrible disguise on) and that was weird, coming from him._

 _I swear he'd never go out of his way to approach me._

 _Unless..._

 _He's planning something._

 _Something stupid. I'm sure of it._

 _I sigh._

 _"It's my game." I finally replied._

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The moon was full tonight. I saw the cratered light ball up in the sky and continued to stare at it while bats flew lapses in the lighted darkness. My trek ended as I went up to the hill to stare down at the world.

What I saw was a view of the city, all bright, busy and boring.

I hated this city. _"Very much so,"_ I added.

But my hatred for this stupid mud ball would never surpass my contempt for mankind who live in it.

 _"These creatures will never learn to be useful,"_ I say to myself.

Sometimes I just wonder why'd they even bother to live, survive even.

 _"foolish humans..."_

 _Wait..._

 _That sounded a lot like Zim._

 _"eww..."_

I shake out these stupid thoughts.

I shouldn't bother to even think about _him..._ the rest of **_them_** even

What do _they_ know about living?

It was pointless from the start.

I sigh.

Pointless and Stupid.

That about summarizes everything.

I take one last look at the city, my scowl never fading.

And then I take my leave.

"Good riddance."

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 _"Good riddance!"_

 ** _grrrrr..._**

 _His stupid voice was exceptionally loud today._

 _I couldn't read my book because of it so I started to growl more. But it appears he wasn't talking to me. His face was turned elsewhere._

 _Regardless, his presence was annoying as ever._

 _"Excuse me?"_

 _He turns, surprised as he meets my gaze._

 _"Gaz-beast..." His face looked like I caught him doing something illegal... (which wouldn't be much of a surprise, really). "I did not know you were there. Zim could have sworn he was alone."_

 _"Shut up." I shooed him with my hand. "Go find another bench to spout your nonesense."_

 _He gives out another curious look, coming down from his seat to stand right in front of me._

 _"You don't have your..." He pauses, an amused look plastered on that annoying face now. " **Game** with you today, Gaz-beast?"_

 _I didn't respond._

 _He didn't either._

 _He just smirks at me and of course I give him a death glare._

 _I stood up, left the bench in the park with the weird alien and his weird questions._

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When it was night, I could roam around the city too.

I still had an hour left before my curfew so I figured I should go buy myself a treat.

A solemn looking convenience store catches my eye.

It looked pretty run down. The lights outside were blinking and I could see random posters and stickers littering its walls. The street it was on looked deserted and from where I stood, I could hear faint grunge music playing inside.

Perfect.

I cross the street and made my way towards the gloomy store.

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 _"Wait!"_

 _I stopped my walking._

 _It seemed the green idiot followed me._

 _Great._

 _"What do you want, **Zim**?" I spat, clearly losing my patience over the alien._

 _"Filthy human, you left **this** lying around." __He grabs something from his PAK and hands it to me._

 _It's a Game Slave._

 _I blink a few times._

 _"Zim is amused how forgetful you humans can be, even as to leave behind the thing most precious to you." He smirks then lets out a laugh. "Now, be thankful I rescued your pitiful device, stinking human."_

 _My glare didn't waver. I knew he was lying._

 _My Game Slave was safe away in my room, I made sure of that._

 _This jerk..._

 _"I didn't forget to leave anything behind, **Zim**. What are you even trying to pull with this lame excuse?" I throw the stupid thing at him, hitting him squarely on the head. __Zim lets out a shout as the fake device breaks in two. It dropped on the pavement between us, some pink goo spilling out._

 _"No!" He kneels and tries to scoop up the disgusting liquid. I just stand back, not sure what to make up of the situation. "Not my ear parasite! Zim worked so hard to set this plan into motion!"_

 _I grind my teeth._

 _" **Ear parasite?!** " I practically shreech._

 _What was he trying to do? Use me for one of his lame experiments?_

 _My fist was all too ready to collide with his face now. I ran towards him, ready to initiate a hard blow when he looks up a fraction of a second and leaps away._

 _Lucky bastard._

 _He landed a few feet, backing away from me as he held my gaze._

 _My eyes revealed a dark murderous intent that he should be familiar with by now._

 _'Yeah, I'll make him pay.' I tell myself. 'I'll make him remember not to mess with me.'_

 _He gulps and takes a careful step back, knocking down a trashcan in the process. The sound of it falling caused him to flinch and I was ready to finally close in on him._

 _Zim then turns and makes a run for it._

 _'Ha.' I thought. 'Very amusing.'_

 _I stood there for a second, looking at his retreating form. By this time, it was me who let out a smirk._

 _'I'll give him a chase then.'_

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _'Ring'_

As I entered the convenience store, I was pleasantly greeted by the slow ancient rock music playing in the background. I didn't recognize the artist but was just contented on hearing the steady beat reach to a low tune. Sweet. This store was exactly the kind of place Dib would deem 'haunted' or 'infested by horrible rat people'.

But whatever.

It made me at least feel more at ease compared to my time in the cemetery.

Here, I could actually find solace and solitude among random, cheap merchandise.

I glanced around to find out I wasn't alone in this cool joint but shrugged.

There was of course a shop clerk who looked way too tired to work even as early into the night as it was. He was slowly chewing gum as his hands cupped his tired face on the counter. I had no way of knowing what his problem was so I walked on ahead.

I then notice there were two other customers in the store.

One was a tall guy with a trench coat hogging up the Brain Freezy machine. He looked pretty happy with the cherry slush so I left him alone. From where I stood I could hear him mutter " _Tuesday means U.F.O's..."_ or something.

I didn't bother thinking what he meant by that and moved on.

The other customer looked to be a woman. I wasn't sure since the person was wearing very dark neutral clothes and their hair was short enough to be a boy's but long enough to be a girl's. Either way, they were in the magazine section which I had zero interest in so I was left to venture off for snacks.

'snacks...' I quietly hum.

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 _We ran across the city._

 _Past the busy streets and littered alley ways, we found ourselves in a familiar neighborhood._

 _Zim was practically sprinting to his house when I caught him by the collar._

 _I got you._

 _He squirmed to my vice like grip but failed to even move my fingers an inch. By then, he knew there was no escape._

 _"Release me, little Gaz! It was not what you think! I-it was only a test...yes! A test in which you passed!"_

 _"Quit making excuses, Zim. I'm not stupid enough to fall for your weird schemes." I say with so much venom. "Oh." I add. "Call me little again and I'll swear I'll give you two black eyes."_

 _My threat only seemed to fuel his fear, my amusement as well._

 _Good._

 _"Gah! No! You will not hurt Zim's eyes!"_

 _"Then I'll just have to beat you on the gut."_

 _His eyes unbelievably widened with fear._

 _"Nooo! Not my squeedlyspooch."_

 _I raise an eye brow at that. It's been, what? Thee years? And I still couldn't understand his weird alien words._

 _"I'll make you pay, Zim." My voice was low, menacing. I found delight in how much the alien was shaking now._

 _"Maybe this time you'll think twice before you plan something stupid on me."_

 _My fist was in the air, taking aim as my other hand held him in place._

 _So close._

 _I was so close in landing a hit._

 _But with a swift movement, Zim was out of my grasp._

 _And I fell to the ground._

 _"I FOUNDS THE CLOVAH, MASTER!" shouts a very insane robot._

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Well...

This store was bigger than average.

Tons of shelves containing new and old merchandise were lined up in place as various stalls were put up in every corner. I took my time examining each vending machine and dispenser that had a funny name to it.

And for a second, I was tempted to try out some arcade game but decided against it since it looked like it was being devoured by rats. So eww...

I continued my search and found my way to a shelf containing random assortments of snack food.

And they were quite the assortment.

On the shelf were the normal snacks like potato chips, salted nuts, candy bars and such. But what made the whole thing pretty messed up were what I assumed to be the foreign products.

Things like _Señor Salsa_ (that says 'you'll pee fire') were put on display. And a lot of eastern food were added in the bunch too.

But looking past the gibberish writing on the packaging, something eventually caught my eye.

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 ** _Wanka Haunted Gummy Bears! Taste the new ectoplasmic flavor!_**

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I immediately thought of my brother. He loved this stuff, I thought. Weird, considering I think lesser of him.

I shrug and put the package in the basket I was holding.

I'll probably give it to him since...

I feel like it... (?)

Tonight.

Anyway, I leave the weird shelf in search for a snack of my own. Consuming Poop Cola and Choco-poop was starting to bore me so I walk the small maze of shelves to find something of interest.

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 _It's a humid night_

 _The moon is getting full again_

 _Somewhere there's a slight f_ _igure made of paraffin_

 _And someone is turning it's head_

 _And someone is pulling it's leg_

 _It's magic_

 _._

It's a song playing on the store's decade old stereo.

I find the tune quite solemn but relaxing. It was a slow rock with a female lead so I figured as much.

But the guitar sounded nice, I'd give it that.

Anyway, I walked around a little more, taking my pick on food. I was alone in the snack isle so there was no rush. In my basket were the gummy bears I'd get for Dib (apparently), a pack of root beer flavored gum, and a box of Wanka chocolate scones.

Deciding this was enough for snacks, I made my way to the beverage isle, cherry cola in mind as I listened to the melancholic song still playing aimlessly.

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _It's a restless crowd_

 _The doves are flying from his sleeves_

 _One girl's not so loud_

 _Like a convert she believes_

 _She's always been looking for wires_

 _Now she knows none are required_

 _It's magic_

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 _Gir._

 _This stupid 'dog'..._

 _The reason I was now on the ground._

 _The annoying robot was standing between us, looking as 'innocent' as ever. He held a patch of grass, showing it to his master with a proud smile._

 _"I gots them clovah!"_

 _"Yes, yes. Very good, Gir. You've captured the filthy earth weed." He composed himself pretty fast, righting his now messy wig to cover up the antenna sticking out as he dusted his tunic-shirt-thing..._

 _Zim then turns to me, anger evident in his fake pupils as he addresses his robot._

 _"Now, get rid of this filthy human."_

 _"Yes, mas_ —

 _I get up, attempting to assault him once more._

 _But, just my luck, Zim was fast enough to fight back this time._

 _I managed to tackle him on the ground but he pushed himself from me before I could land a hit._

 _"Foolish human!" He screams. I only swing my fist again as he dodges back. "You'd think you can smite the all powerful Zim?!"_

 _This time I get down and kick his legs. He trips and falls to which I respond with a smirk._

 _"You've been careless all this time. Makes my job quite easy."_

 _"Silence!"_

 _He was on his feet now, ready to counter my blows._

 _And the fight continues._

 _Jump. Kick. Punch. Dodge. Leap. Push. Smack. Bite. Hit._

 _He manages to tackle me once but I jump up in an instant._

 _I won't let him win a blow._

 _I glanced to the side and, turns out, his stupid robot only stood watch, face looking lost in the moment then finding amusement whenever one of us got tripped by the other._

 _Useless._

 _A few moments passed and Zim was frustrated enough to use his PAK legs._

 _I leaped back before any of the limbs could reach me, gaining a fair distance away._

 _"Zim has had enough of your roughhousing, **little Gaz**." He says, voice a mocking tune as his body was now elevated a few feet, slowly closing in on me._

 _Bastard._

 _Something about him just makes my blood boil today._

 _Maybe it was his arrogance._

 _No._

 _There's something else here..._

 _"If you still wish to live, you will surrender to Zim and..._ _apologize."_

 _I snort._

 _"You wish."_

 _And he grabs me._

 _Hard._

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I was now set with the snacks and cherry drink so I headed to the counter.

But it seems something had caught my eye once more.

There, in the farthest and dimmest corner of the store, was a mangled rack full of old key chains and trinkets. They didn't really posses anything of great value but I was drawn to a particular tiny object.

What? I _like_ cute things.

I stood before the rack, basket on hand and poking the thing with the other.

It was a simple key chain, an alien ship was it's design with a button that made it light up.

The ship was the generic kind you'd see in the Mysterious Mysteries theme song (or something) so nothing special, really. I held it for a couple of moments, appreciating its simple yet classic features when I remembered a certain alien from school.

I scowled, looked at the thing again, sighed, then tossed it in the basket.

 _'What am I getting myself into?'_ I helplessly thought.

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 _"Looks like you're out of options here, Gaz-beast."_

 ** _This stupid alien._**

 _"Well, I suppose you can start by apologizing now. Admit Zim is far more superior to you earthling scum."_

 ** _I hate him._**

 _"Speak up, Gaz-human. You wouldn't want to keep me waiting."_

 ** _So much._**

 _He squeezes me hard._

 _I try not to scream._

 _He smirks at my pained expression but decides to loosen his hold on me._

 _"Well?"_

 _I spat on his face._

 _The annoying green thing was getting quite close to mine, making me **very** uncomfortable, and I wan't exactly lady-like to begin with._

 _So... yeah._

 _He screams in pain as I see his cheek slightly burn up._

 _I smirk this time._

 _But he still didn't release me._

 _"You're difficult." He says._

 _"So are you."_

 _One eye twitches._

 _"You lie!" He points an accusing finger at me. "Zim is very competent! I am the embodiment of amazingness and refineness! A worthy Irken soldier to which nothing you humans can compare to!"_

 _I snort. "We both know that's not true nor will it ever be true, Zim."_

 _I could feel the metal limbs coil around me more as I eyed his quickly changing expression. I wondered why he looked hurt all of the sudden, then angry, then hurt again._

 _What?_

 _Anyway, my feet started to ache as they dangled in the air. Zim brought me close to him still, and looked like he couldn't make up his mind with something._

 _"Now," I say instead. "Release me."_

 _There was no use for a fight anymore. We were both tired, I could tell._

 _"No!"_

 _A rushed response._

 _I'm confused._

 _"Why?!"_

 _"Because!_ —

 _He doesn't continue. Instead he just looks at me._

 _Just **really** looks at me._

 _We stare at each other in awkward silence._

 _Strangely, he didn't show any anger or frustration this time._

 _Instead, he just looked curious._

 _As if he was thinking of something._

 _Something I couldn't see._

 _And that got me freaked out._

 _"... I like this."_

 _"What?"_ I breathe out, confused and taken aback.

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 _Wrap me up in chains_

 _With the magic words you say_

 _Well, I can use my brain,_

 _I can make my getaway_

 _And I will be your volunteer_

 _If you make this love disappear_

 _Like magic_

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I left the convenient store with the five items I purchased. I was now currently holding a paper bag with the stuff as I rechecked if my game was still in my pocket.

It's there.

Good.

I walk through the empty streets.

A sound...

A movement...

"You're out pretty late." Says one annoying voice.

I curse.

The _almost_ empty streets... I guess...

"Get out of the way, Zim." I all but spat as I addressed the ever persistent figure.

He eyes me with a smug look, his presence blocking my way as if he were some kind of brick wall.

(Which I'd prefer than an idiot alien scumbag, really.)

I scowl.

He smirks.

"Not until you admit it." He says, him in that ridiculous disguise again even though it was practically just us here... but you can never be too careful, I suppose.

I sigh.

"No." was my obvious answer.

He heads straight for me then, now at arms reach. My scowl never fades as he lowers down his face to mine.

And screams.

"Just tell me you feel it too!"

I look directly at him this time, amber meeting red.

"Cut it out, Zim." I say, hands clenching the bag to my chest. It was me who broke our eye contact, choosing to look elsewhere but at the emotionally unstable alien.

I wanted to get out of this situation as soon as possible, clearly tired over the countless times we've clashed already.

Seriously, this was getting annoying.

"Whatever _'this'_ is between us has got to stop." I pause, thinking back to what's been happening, what I _let_ happen.

"It's pointless." I finally say— cold, distant.

I think that I must return this to how it all was, how it should be...

Just some stupid and pointless act of pissing the other.

Stupid and pointless...

Zim doesn't seem to think otherwise.

He's silent for a while.

But then speaks.

"You don't know that." He quietly states, almost like a last attempt to change my mind.

But I didn't waver.

'cause I never saw it his way.

After all, it was all just a mistake.

"You don't either." I say. "None of us do."

He was about to retort to that but I stopped him right there.

"I don't like this, Zim. I _hate_ it. So, so much." I take a deep breath. "I hate how you follow me around, wait till I'm wide open and annoy me till I either chase you around or beat you." A chilly wind blows past us in the silence that followed and there is still no sign of life but us two.

"I hate how you stock me." I say with such venom. I was so tired of this— this _mess!_ "How you'd always find time to argue about anything and everything, to try and use my Game Slave against me." I felt for the thing in my pocket again.

It was there.

"Ever since that day you tried to pull that _stupid_ stunt, you've been so invested in a fantasy of your own creation."

I paused and looked at his eyes.

I searched for something in them and found a mystery of its own.

That look again...

 _'why?'_

"Nothing good will ever come out of this, Zim." I say, sounding like a broken record by now. "No matter how much 'amusement' you think you're getting, well, there was none to begin with, even for me. This is all just getting old— _ueless!_ "

His silence has been going on for too long but he soon found his voice to spat back at me.

"Liar."

I scowl even more.

He ranges on, seeming to gain himself courage to fight me yet again.

"Who are you to have me believe that our time together would be put to vain?" He asks, voice calm but full of emotion I can't recognize as of now. "To have me believe that you, yourself did not find amusement in our fights, our banter you invested in as much as I did? You are a liar when you say you hated every win, every victory with _me_ at your mercy, how I'd been reduced to be seen so low just to see you rise." He pauses, stares longingly at a point beyond my shoulder.

"To be mine..." He whispers, then stares me, searching for some kind of reaction.

I'm silent as he continues, my amber gaze scrutinizing the strange sincerity in his words, how they'd sounded so believable...so—

 _'But it's not.'_ I think rationally, ignoring the strange feeling of my own.

"Who are you..." he says so softly, that I'm sure he was saying this more to himself. "To make me believe that all this, even in this moment, would be for nothing?"

Silence.

I let silence answer him.

Above us was a flickering lamp light, which I presumed, if alive, would probably feel very awkward right now. And further up the thing and the resting buildings, was the night sky and the moon.

Through all this, it feels as if we were in the confines of space itself, surrounded by the blanket of darkness and its never ending stars.

In our own secret world, never to part.

But...

However romantic that may sound, it's not.

After all, this wasn't a love story with pure, happy endings.

This was just a story.

A story about two beings wondering what lies ahead if they remained with the other.

They wondered what to do, what to say.

To hide, to flee.

Or to embrace, to grow.

Leave or stay.

One says "Abandon, forget."

The other, "Pursue, remember."

The answer, they did not know, and so they found themselves spinning at their own little worlds, meeting in a dance that never seemed to end.

Neither was right nor wrong.

Good nor bad.

Bad nor good.

Neither could tell, neither was the other.

Two sides of the same coin, were they.

And neither side gave up, forever continuing their eternal dance.

That night, I left him, unable to answer or retort to his claims.

Mere claims, I presumed.

But in time, I grew doubtful, confused.

He was no longer around to bug me, he gave me the distance I so badly wanted but I still thought of him. I thought how he would've reacted to one thing, how he would've said something, do anything.

Yet found him nowhere.

Silent as the moon that night.

I was alone.

Just as I liked it.

But in time, I found myself wondering.

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 _"What if I chose to stay?"_

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _"Would it have been different?"_

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _"Better?"_

 _._

 _._

 _"Happy?"_

 _._

* * *

 _ **The End**_

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* * *

 _A/N : Hello, readers... I hope you enjoyed this ZaGr (if you squint) oneshot. This wasn't suppose to be an actual story but it kinda grew on me so... yeah._

 _I had lots of fun writing this but tbh, I'm not sure if I did a good job with the characterization._

 _This was actually done to see if I can write scenes in my other ZaGr fic, "RuInS", properly so...let me know._

 _Anyway, I hope there are those who spotted the Nny (from JtHM) cameo. (If not, he was the Brain Freezy guy...yeah, he likes the stuff a lot in the comics.)_

 _(There are a lot of references in the JtHM comics here like that Senor Salsa chips...no jk)_

 _Also, the song Gaz hears in the convenience store is entitled "Blue Magic" by Kelly Hogan. It was played in that one Adventure Time episode if some of you remember. I really liked that song and found it fitting for this fic so yeah... I included the lyrics here._

 _Alright, that seems to be it for the notes. I hope you enjoyed this fic as much as I do and review._

 _(Who knows, I might write an epilogue or draw art for this.)_

 _Only time will tell...lol._

 _See ya~_


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